Since participating in ISR, has your institution introduced any changes to support interdisciplinary science? If yes, please describe.
Yes. In recent years, Tzu Chi University has introduced and strengthened several institutional measures that support interdisciplinary science. Following the 2024 university merger, Tzu Chi University established the College of Biomedical Science and Technology, with an explicit mission to cultivate interdisciplinary and innovative talent in biomedical science and environmental sustainability. Related development planning also included support for an AI Computing Center and a Smart Biomedical Chip Research Center.
In addition, in 2025 the university revised its regulations governing the establishment and performance management of research centers. The revised framework places stronger emphasis on cross-disciplinary resource integration, the execution of large interdisciplinary research projects, and periodic performance review. Publicly documented research centers also reflect an expanding interdisciplinary ecosystem, including units in artificial intelligence, smart biomedical technology, sustainability and disaster prevention, medicinal plants and natural products, and data-intensive health research.
■ Board documentation related to institutional development and new structures: [Link]
■ Research center introduction: [Link]
5.1 Merger with Tzu Chi University of Science and Technology (August 2024)
The most significant structural change in the institution’s recent history occurred in August 2024, when Tzu Chi University of Science and Technology was formally merged into TCU as the Jianguo Campus. This merger substantially expanded TCU’s disciplinary portfolio to include nursing sciences, radiological technology, physical therapy, and healthcare management — disciplines that were previously under-represented within the institution’s research profile. The merger creates new interdisciplinary research interfaces between TCU’s established biomedical and life sciences base and the applied health professions, enabling research in areas such as clinical technology integration, rehabilitation science, and patient safety engineering.
5.2 Establishment of New Academic Programmes (2024)
In the 2024 academic year, TCU established the Department of Pharmacy and the Post-Baccalaureate Nursing Programme. These additions extend the institution’s pharmacological, therapeutic, and clinical science research capabilities, creating new cross-disciplinary connections with existing departments in molecular biology and human genetics, medical informatics, public health, and medical humanities.
5.3 Response to THE ISR 2026 Disciplinary Scope Expansion
THE ISR 2026 has, in direct response to university engagement, broadened its definition of interdisciplinary science to include research projects combining scientific disciplines with social sciences, education, psychology, law, economics, and clinical and health sciences. TCU welcomes and formally endorses this methodological evolution. TCU’s foundational research paradigm — integrating clinical science with medical humanities, and biomedical research with public health and social epidemiology — has long operated within precisely this expanded definition of interdisciplinarity. The new scope enables the ranking to more accurately capture the institution’s actual interdisciplinary research contribution.
5.4 Increased Administrative Activation of NSTC Interdisciplinary Grant Mechanisms
Since the ISR 2025 cycle, TCU’s Office of Research and Development has actively increased institutional participation in the NSTC’s ‘Social-Need-Driven Interdisciplinary Research Programme’, a mechanism explicitly designed to fund research that crosses conventional disciplinary boundaries to address societal challenges. This represents a measurable increase in the institution’s administrative commitment to translating interdisciplinary aspiration into funded research activity.
